so it looks like a guy is claiming to be "Deep Throat," the Watergate informant. He's W. Mark Felt, a former top FBI official. Vanity Fair has the article online, I assume it's not yet on the newsstand. Intersting. I wonder if it is him, why he is coming forward? Maybe since he's old, he wants to make sure somebody knows before he dies.

Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post, the paper that Deep Throat told about Nixon's coverup, has an insider's view of it on his blog. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the writers of the articles, said they wouldn't reveal the indentity of Deep Throat until after his (or her?) death, but I guess that doesn't preclude Deep Throat from doing it himself. Here's another Post article.

Update: Woodward, Bernstein, and their editor Ben Bradlee confirmed that Felt is Deep Throat. Pretty crazy! So now we know.

so sometimes I like to read the keywords people put in on Google to find my site. I use a site called Statcounter, which is free and pretty good. But anyway, sometimes they're actually things on my site, such as "what did the five fingers say to the face?" (slap!), but other times I wonder how they found this site at all, such as "shaw's jewelers necklace." Other times they spark my curisoity, like "boycott kidz bop" (I wonder why? I can't find any mention of a boycott), and "hurra torpedo toxic" - which makes me wonder if they covered that Britney Spears song. And the other times the searches are funny, like "lyrics pissing on a panda." The lyrics are not that complicated:

Feels good, pissing on a panda, real good, pissing on a panda
it's cool, pissing on a panda, real cool, pissing on a panda

Download the song here.

And then there's a search for JR Pinnock, which is cool, because that means people are looking for GW basketball players. And the off the wall ones, like "pictures of dark haired boys." ???

so this made me proud to be a GW graduate: a GW professor was quoted in an article about people in Mississippi trying to close down strip clubs, supposedly because they would make property values drop and would cause crime. However, the GW guy calls them out:

Ronald Weitzer, a sociologist at George Washington University and author of the book "Sex for Sale," said crime and quality-of-life concerns often are smokescreens to moral agendas.

"Research based on carefully matched areas and businesses finds that crime is much more prevalent in the immediate vicinity of regular bars and gas stations," Weitzer said in an e-mail message this week.

Well done, Prof. Weitzer. It reminds me of the time when the Indigo Girls were going to play at my high school, and hundreds of members of the enormous local Southern Baptist church called the school and said they shouldn't play because they use profanity. Not because they're lesbians, of course. And they only curse in one song, and promised not to play that song. I mean, if you're going to be intolerant, at least do it in the open. Have some balls. Some closeminded balls.

so I saw this news article on Yahoo and I thought, "I wonder if he poops in his pants?"

Suspect atop crane for third day

Then that made me think, I wonder if there is a blog about poo poo? If there is, it's probably not poo related news, which would be funny. So I have started one. Check it out!

so there's a new Daft Punk video out, I just got it in an email from them. It's for "Technologic," which is a decent song, but I like the video. It's basically a scary-looking robot singing the words. Hopefully this link for the video will work.

And Daft Punk's website has the "Robot Rock" video, which is also cool, it's the two Daft Punkers in their robot suits playing a double guitar and some shiny drums.

None of the videos are as great as the ones from "Homework," but that's ok. Some day I will make the spaghetti sauce they give the recipe for in the "Revolution 909" video, which is probably one of my most favorite music videos. And it's available on this page. Unfortunately the instructions are in French, but you get the idea.

so here's my new license plate:



Not really, but I have been messing around with this gizmo, where you can design your own license plates.

And I've also been fooling around on Blogshares, a game where you trade stock in blogs. It takes some getting used to, but it's pretty fun. I like to trade blogs of people I know, like Rae, and other ones I like, such as 8thPresInDaHouse and that one aboutAnn Coulter. I also like to inflate the price of my own blog. Check out how it's doing.

so I've been listening to some music on the interweb recently, like the Dead 60s, a new English band, who are sort of like all the new catchy, jangly, dancey bands, but also a lot like the Clash. I like it. Teenage Fanclub has a new song out too for their new album. (Click to save as...) And I've also been listening to a Scottish band called Cosmic Rough Riders on Myspace, who coincidentally sound a lot like Teenage Fanclub.

And Stereogum also has links to stream the new Oasis, Maximo Park (whowever they are, but they're getting great reviews) and the Coral.

so it looks like there's a new Head of Femur album out, which is cool. I bet it's pretty kooky, especially judging from song titles like "The Sausage Canoe" and "Jack and the Water Buffalo." The review on All Music Guide is pretty positive too. They have one song available on their website, "Elliott Gould Is In California Split," whatever that means. But I like it. It's very fast and catchy and goes about 15 places. And there are 3 other songs on their Myspace page.

I also like the message at the top of their website:

"THIS IS A TEMPORARY SITE WE HAD TO TAKE DOWN OUR LAST SITE CAUSE IT WAS HACKED BY DUTCH FUTURISTS. NEW SITE TO COME IN JUNE.
WE LOVE YOU."

Strange. They're playing June 16th at DC9 with Architecture in Helsinki, which probably means there are going to be as many musicians as there will be people in the audience. It's a small place, and Architecture in Helsinki and Head of Femur are both octets. The other band playing with them, Dr. Dog, has 5 people according to their website. Their stuff is pretty good too, at least the 4 songs on the website. I think "ABC" is not so great, but I like the other 3. Pretty low-fi and what not, but they sound pretty fun.

British Sea Power and Feist at the Black Cat

britishseapower
Originally uploaded by squidpants.

so I went to see British Sea Power and Feist the other day at the Black Cat. I missed most of Feist's set because my pal was late (due to traffic, doh) but I must say, I wasn't too impressed with her. Of course, I missed most of it, so it was harder to get into to, but it was just her and a guitar, I was hoping she would have a band with her. However, British Sea Power were great, I thought their sound was really big and they were pretty good showmen. I'd heard that they do crazy stuff at their shows, and they didn't do much here besides swing from the rafters, but they were just really solid. Of course, I had also had one or two of those giant Foster's oil can beers, so I was a little impaired, but it was a very fun show. It was one of the few shows where I really wanted an encore, rather than just waiting for it to be over, which was cool. Below is another British Sea Power photo, and a very blurry one of Feist.

so my girl Jenny discovered who Borf is. She said she was walking around and saw a guy with paint on his pants and a marker and newspaper, and he went up to a pole, covered it with the newspaper, and when he walked away, it said Borf. she said he looked just like the stencil too. hopefully she'll post something soon about it. They wrote about it on DCist as well, which was fast, and there are suddenly some haters who say it's not borf. The same guy posted on her Flickr page too.

so it's been raining a lot today, which is usually no big deal to me. However, my work has these bags they make you use to put your umbrellas in, and they are a pain the ass. They're pretty slim, so if you have one of the shorter kind of umbrellas, it's really hard to get it to go in, meaning you splash yourself while trying to do it. And once you do get the umbrella in, it doesn't really work anyway, it usually only fits in half way so water is still dripping everywhere. Even if you have one of the big, long type of umbrellas you still get water all over you as you're trying to put it in the bag. Then the umbrella has no way to dry when you get to your desk, so you have to take it out of the bag and drip water all over, or you look like a doofus carrying an umbrella in a bag. Annoying stuff.

Earlimart and Okkervil River at Iota

earlimart
Originally uploaded by squidpants.

so i went to see Earlimart and Okkervil River the other day at Iota in Arlington. Okkervil River opened and have been getting a lot of buzz lately, and there was a big, mostly young crowd for them. However, they were not that great, I thought they seemed like a high school version of the Arcade Fire, even though they appeared older than that. They made lots of noise and had lots of people on stage, but it seemed like a lof of the band members weren't really necessary. I got the impression that they were pumped to be on tour, so they called all their pals with instruments and brought them all along. I was not impressed. However, a lot of thte young folks left after they finished, which was a shame, because they missed Earlimart putting on a very good show. I had only heard a few songs from their website before, but I really enjoyed the show. They play mid-tempo, sort of electronic, country-tinged rock with multiple guitars and keyboards. The singer sang in a whispery voice the whole time, which really fit all the songs well. It was obvious these guys were good musicians and had played a million times together, as they were really solid, but they also were enjoying themselves. The drummer was especially good, I thought, and when one of the keyboardists started to play a second drum set, the two drummers were exactly together, which was cool. I really enjoyed everything I heard, it was pretty melodic and interesting. I bought their new CD, "Treble and Tremble" at the merch table, and it's very good. The Okkervil River kids climbed on stage a lot to add a couple trumpet bits and tambourine, which was ok at first but got a little annoying after the fifth time. But oh well. And the Earlimart bassist was pretty hot too, though it's hard to tell from this picture. Damn cameraphone and dark Iota interior.

so I had this weird dream last night: I was in a band playing this weird high school auditorium type place that was pretty empty. There were 6 or 7 seven people in the band, and for some reason I was in the band on stage, but I was also watching myself from the seats at the same time. But anyway, the me onstage had to announce that our lead singer was sick so I'd be doing the singing, and people in the audience groaned. However, Axl Rose was sitting in the back of the seats (near where the me in the seats was sitting) and he got up to sing the first song, which kind of annoyed me. I said the song was a cover of a Dashboard Confessional song, which is weird because I hate them. Anyway, Axl sang the song and the crowd gave a polite response. Then after the song, everyone else left the stage and I put on one of those drum sets that marching bands have where there are 4 drums and you strap them to your back, and the crowd did not seem impressed. Then I woke up before I started playing.

In other news, I have been getting a bunch of German spam recently. Here's why.

so the White House, Capitol, and other government buildings were just evacuated because of an unidentified aircraft, for the second time in the last couple weeks. The last time was caused by clouds, of all things. But this is getting real old, if today's evacuation was not caused by a cloud, they should start fining planes that don't identify themselves. That, and fix whatever systems keep causing these alarms. I mean, all these false alarms suck because A. you get worried, and B. people might stop paying attention when a real threat happens.

so there is some good news today:

The lead in DC's water is now below the danger level.

And this Saturday is electronics recycling day in DC, at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre on 16th St NW.

Caribou, Junior Boys, Russian Futurists in Philly

Caribou
Originally uploaded by squidpants.

so I saw Caribou, Junior Boys, and Russian Futurists last saturday in Philly. The show was at the Trocadero, which I guess is Philly's version of the Black Cat or 9:30 Club, but it was upstairs in a little secondary venue (sort of like the Black Cat backstage). Anyway, I had heard some by all the bands, and thought it would be a good show. And for the most part, I was right.


Russian Futurists opened, and I was looking forward to them, they play poppy type rock. I was surprised to see mostly keyboards and drum machines though, I assumed they would be more a guitar and bass band. However, they were alright. The sound was kind of muddy and all of the songs sounded pretty similar, with the same tempo and instrumentation and volume for the most part. They weren't bad, but weren't good. (Picture of Russian Futurists below)


Junior Boys were next, and were excellent. I'd heard a lot of buzz a few months ago (in Spin and other places) saying they were the next Postal Service, better than the Postal Service, etc, and I heard a few songs then and didn't agree. However, they were great, if a little annoying. The lead singer seemed kind of pretentious in between songs, complaining about the lighting and how bad the sound was, when actually it sounded great to me, it was clear and crisp, unlike the Russian Futurists. He said towards the end "when bands go to Hell, they get this PA," which must have made the club people mad, because they immediately turned the lights out, so Junior Boys played their last few songs in the dark. However, the music was great, pretty minimalist techno, with only a drum machine, keyboard, and the singer on guitar or bass. The songs usually built slowly and got my bobbing my head at pretty much every song. I was going to buy the CD, but it was $15, so I decided to wait and get it on Amazon. (Picture of Junior Boys below)



Caribou (formerly Manitoba) were the headliners. I had heard a few songs around and figured they'd be slow kind of spacey, jammy techno with maybe one or two people, but they actually had 4 or 5 guys and rocked pretty hard. Sometimes Dan Snaith, the lead singer, would sit down at a second drum set and the two drummers would play at the same time, which sounded great. They also had a really cool video show of weird cartoons they'd put together, and again I recognized few songs, but really enjoyed it. Basically they'd have a drum machine track, some samples, some drumming, guitars and keyboards. Their music is sort of hard to explain, hypnotic indie rock/electronica with extended, but not annoying, jams. Simple analysis: they rocked, especially when the two drummers went to work. I think I smiled every time they started.

Basically, the show as a whole was good. I liked Junior Boys the most, but I was pleased in general. Then I went to a Wawa and saw the Real World Philadelphia house.

Mp3s here for the bands:
Russian Futurists (click "Discography")

Junior Boys

Caribou

so I've found some neat sites recently:

first, DC-movies.com, with info on what movies were filmed where in the District. Pretty neat. I always like to point out the Q St underpass from Enemy of the State, where the fire truck hits the guy on the bike.

Cheap Eats, a cool blog about how to make decent cheap food.

Also food related, a contest for people to make iPod Shuffles out of food.

An interesting "Baby Name Voyager" where you can see the popularity of names over the years. I like looking up old ones, like Elmer and Irene.

And a neat post from DCist about Hwy 29 in DC. There are some random signs here and there apparently, and it takes a pretty circuitous route.

so I thought this was a clever idea: an MIT stdent is having a time traveler convention. So hopefully people will travel in time to the latitude and longitude of the MIT quad (in case MIT doesn't exist anymore, they'll know where it is). And in case the internet doesn't exist in the future, he's putting little slips of paper in books all over the place. And there will be student bands playing songs about time travel. The guy seems pretty funny, and was inspired by the web comic Cat and Girl, which I mentioned awhile ago (they did the take off on the Urban Outfitters shirt.) Anyway, it's a clever idea, I may do some publicity. Because even if I publicize it after it's happened, people in the future could still see the stuff and come back in time. Which is weird, because how will we know they did?

so this is a pretty hilarious video. Erin sent it to me, it's about fainting goats. Apparently, this kind of goat has a gene that makes them faint a lot. The interview is pretty funny and dumb too. "Better than dogs?"

so I saw this article on Yahoo, that Prince Albert of Monaco had an illegitimate kid. Ho hum. However, this line struck me:

The interview is illustrated with pictures of the prince holding and feeding a young boy with dark curly hair and eyes.

So the kid has dark curly hair, and dark curly eyes. Or maybe just has dark curly hair, and also has eyes. Either way, it's a dumb sentence.

so what did the five fingers say to the face? Slap!

I read on Stereogum that Dave Chapelle had a nervous breakdown or something, which sucks. However, I also saw this cool Rick James sound clip generator. You can play a bunch at once, which is weird and cool.

so this is pretty ridiculous. Probably fake, but bizarre and amusing. It is what it sounds like. And no pictures, thankfully, but not work safe. ifuckedanncoulterintheasshard.blogspot.com.

(Via stereogum.)

But to make up for it, here's a happy picture of dancing animal mascots:



That crocodile is getting down.

so Weezer has some songs from their upcoming CD at their Myspace page, and starting at 3:01 am tomorrow (thurs) they'll have the entire new album, which is cool.

I think I might be outgrowing Weezer or something. I usually consider them my favorite band, and their first CD is spectacular, one of my top two CDs (the other being Daft Punk's Homework). However, their recent CDs are ok, and these songs are very blah. I never really considered them emo before, but these songs really sound like the cheesy stupid teen emo that's on MTV now. They're less annoying, but the lyrics are pretty blah. The music is decent, but I want something more from them. Come on, rhyming "All I have to do is swing and I'll be a hero, but I'm a zero"? How lame is that. And then talking about "I just can't get no play." I really hope this song ("Perfect Situation") is supposed to be from the point of view of a sad 15 year-old, and not Rivers' actual feelings, because then it's inane. And the other song I'd heard by them, "Beverly Hills," was atrocious. It sounds like it was written by an ad agency for a Pepsi commercial. I dunno. They have yet impress me.

so one of my roommates is moving in with a friend, which means we are looking for a new roommate. I figured I'd post it on here, just in case. If anybody is interested, or knows somebody who is, please let me know.

We live in a townhouse in Adams Morgan near 18th & Harvard St (map)
You'd get:

Big ass bedroom in a big house
Your own private bathroom and your own private entrance
Cable, internet, dishwasher, washer/dryer, and your own A/C and heater
15 mins from Woodley Park and Columbia Heights metros
5 mins from the main part of Adams Morgan, the Safeway, and buses
Two totally awesome roommates, obviously
$750 a month - gas, water, electric are included (cable, phone, internet come to less than $30/person)

Ideally you'd move in May 15, but if not, June 1. Stay until Aug 31, with an option to stay longer if you so desire (we may or may not move out after that, but you can stay if you want, which is what we did when we moved in). Security deposit is $657.

So seriously, ask your friends and stuff.

so I saw this article about Gov. Jeb Bush signing a bill stiffening the sentencing for child molesters in Florida. That's fine, but then I got to a part that worried me:

The bill also requires more monitoring of people convicted of molesting older children.

The new requirement only affects people convicted in the future, but it also has a provision that provides for GPS tracking of sex offenders who violate probation.

Advocates for the satellite monitoring say that in addition to warning authorities when a sex offender is someplace he shouldn't be — such as near a school — it also will allow for quick pinpointing of suspects if a child is abducted.

This is sort of strange, because it seems to me that monitoring all convicted criminals would logically follow. Then we could see where they are at all times, right? And to me, this is a real invasion of privacy, monitoring people like that, even if they are criminals. There have to be less intrusive ways to see if a sex offender is near a school, like the ankle bracelet thing people use for house arrest or something. Being able to see where someone is at all times seems very intrusive.

I mean, maybe this already happens, but it seems to me that counseling would be more effective than monitoring someone. I guess it's a question of how much privacy should people have? If everybody were monitored at all times, it would be easy to see who was at the scene when crimes were committed, but it'd also be easy to see if people are doing things the government doesn't want them to do, like protesting. And just because someone was at the scene, it doesn't mean they actually did it. I don't think there is the technology that allows people to see who is firing a gun or something like that. Complicated stuff.